Improvement in letter-boxes



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O. R. BANCROFT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO C. C. D IOK- ERMAN AND O. W. MUNROE, OF SAME" PLAOF.

Letters Patent No. 103,826, (lated une 7, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN' LETTER-BOXES.

The schedule referred to intime nettare Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom `it may concern.- y

had to the accompanying drawingsfwith'letters ot.

reference marked thereon; and' VThe nature of my invention consists in. so constructing a letter-box, and so placingjt upon the doorframe, as that the closing of'the doormay close, or keep closed, the aperture in the letter-,box from which the letters, 86e., are tobe withdrawn; and further, in a device for protecting the contents from rain, snow, dust, &c., andin a device by-whclr the unlawful abstraction of letters may be preveuted,'andin a mode of attaching said box to the door-frame.

In the drawings- .iigure 1 is an isometric view of the door and doorframe and the letter-box;

Figure 2' 'a view from the back'ioi the letter-box, when detached from the door-frame and In the drawings- A, fig. 1, represents the door.

B B, fig. 1, is the door-frame.

G, -g. 1, is theletter-box.

iig. 1, is the cover of the same, working on hinges at the left-hand end.

4E, fig. 1,is the under cover.

F, g. 1, is an aperture or slit, called the receivingslit, in the under cover E, through which the letters papers, &c., are dropped.

G, fig. 1, is the door in the side of the letter-box which closes the discharging-aperture H, iig. 1, through which the letters are taken from the box;

I, iig. 1, is a chute, being a curved rpiece of metal, hung at an angle of about forty-'five degrees, or thereabouts, from the lower part fof the under cover E'upon the hinge J, tig-1. at itslower end.r

K, iig. 1, is a spring attached at its top to the chute I, and at'its bottom Avitnpinging -upon one side of the letter-box;

L* Lx Lx L", iig. 2, are twoapertures in the back of the letter-box, which are thus' fashioned:

One end o f the aperture or slot s a; circular hole large enough to admit the passage of the head of a screw or peg. Running intorthis circular aperture A` is an oblong one, horizontal (or sometimes I make them at an angle) when the Vbox is in position, and of width onlysnftieient `to admit the passage of the shank ofthe screw, and rounded at the cxtreme end;

and

This chute `I is serrated The operation of my device isthis, commencing with the attachment of the box to the door-frame:

Having two screws or pegs (not represented) placed in the door-flame, at the same distance from the door when closed as the distance, in fig-2, be-

tween the part marked respectively L" L", of' the' two peg-holes in the back of the letter-box, from the upper edge of the box in iig. 2, I open the 'door and pass the heads ofthe screws (not represented) or pegs through the circula-r parts of the peg-holes, at the points marked L L, respectively. Then movingthe letter-box in a direction from the door till the Shanks,

of the pegs touch the ends Lx Lx of the peg-holes or slots, the pcg-heads are then inside the letter-box, and, the door being closed, there is uo means of moving' the letter-box from its place without breaking it or the peg-heads, while the box may, at any time', be readily removed. "hen the door is' open, and to place letters, &e., in the receiving-slit F, I liftthe upper cover I), and when the letters-are deposited let Vthe cover D down, thus protecting the receiving-slit cept by pressing back the chute against the spring,

which can be done readily only by vone whoopens the letter-box legitimately, by openingifthe door tothe frame of which the box is attached; The main feature of my letterbox is now to b c ad- Verted to. I v v The discharging-aperture H is, lit will be perceived, placed on the side which, when the box is placed in position,^is opposed to the door. Thus when'the letter-box is closed the, door fastens it, and when, as I sometimes do, I dispense with the letter-box door, the door, when closed, closes the discharging-aperture which is open, or the letter-box door may be opened when the door is open; ,and I sometimes dis` pense with the spring K and make the chute itself a spring, thus dispensing with the hinge J; and sometimes I do not serratov the bottom of the chute, but make it with .a knife-edge, or otherwise; and sometimes, instead ot' having the discharging-opening at the side opposite the door, I have itin the top or the bottom, or the front side of the box, having an appropriate projection from the door, which either closes the aperture, or, a hinged door being upon the box as in the-drawing, fastcns it; and sometimes I fasten the box is fastened to a door-frame, is either closed` or kept closed by the shutting of the door, when constructed and used substantially as described.

2. The fastening of the letter-box to a. door-frame by the peg-slots mentioned, so that when the door is closed the box is lfirmly held, yet-'is removable when the door` is opened, in manner substantially as described.

C. R. BANCROFCIM Witnesses:

LEMUEL P. J ENKS, DAVID BICKNELL. 

